


You're The Only North Star I Would Follow This Far

by Ayzup



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Eventual Smut?, Loosely follows game plot, M/M, Rivals to Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-11-13
Packaged: 2019-01-27 01:54:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12571104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ayzup/pseuds/Ayzup
Summary: In which MacCready and Deacon get to know each other and don't just plant carrots at Sanctuary while the Sole Survivor is away.





	1. In Which Meetings Take Place and Preliminary Opinions Are Formed

The first time they met, it had been in passing.

Robert Joseph MacCready had been traveling with Nate for a few weeks now, and had noticed some peculiarities about his boss. It had been apparent from the beginning that he was a Vault-Dweller from the Pip-Boy on his wrist, so MacCready expected a certain level of hesitancy, especially when facing threats such as feral ghouls or raiders. However, ‘hesitant’ was not a word the mercenary would use to describe his boss after witnessing his collected efficiency when taking down a flock of super mutants. Even more surprising was Nate’s involvement with the Brotherhood of Steel while also holding the position of General of the Minutemen. He helped a lot of different people, and he wasn’t that bad of a shot where MacCready could see him justifying spending 200 caps - MacCready was still trying to determine if the haggle had been worth it - on dragging a sniper with him all over the ‘Wealth.

MacCready wished he could say he was shocked when the pair of them ended up following the Freedom Trail, leaving a path of blood in their wake, all the way to the Railroad’s headquarters; he was even less shocked when Nate expressed his interest in aiding the gang of synth-fanatics, not because Nate had expressed any particular love of synths, but because he seemed to tell people exactly what they wanted to hear and had a habit of collecting friends and allies like Grognak comics.

Having no desire to stick his nose into this particular mess, MacCready lingered by the entrance while Nate and his new buddies ironed out details of what sounded like some sort of initiation mission. A glint of light (out of place in a cave where the sun couldn’t reach) drew MacCready’s attention to a bald man wearing a dirty t-shirt, jeans, and sunglasses. The sunglasses made it hard to tell, but the shiver that went down the mercenary’s spine told him that this weirdo was watching him, probably making mental notes to label him as a friend or a foe. There was no way this stranger from the Railroad knew of his past with the Gunners, so MacCready pointedly avoided looking back.

Nate ended up telling MacCready to go back to Sanctuary while he took care of some business. It wasn’t the worst thing in the world; Preston Garvey was nice enough (which made it really hard to be too annoyed when he directed them toward another settlement no sooner than they returned from the last one), Sturges had built a guard post on top of one of the mostly intact houses so MacCready could sit up there and keep an eye out for any danger, and he knew that he could have a beer or four with that brawler they had liberated from the Combat Zone not too long ago, if she had made it there. Besides, it sounded like this was only a temporary delay in their travels, which meant that MacCready wouldn’t have to go looking for another job just yet.

~~~~~

It took MacCready only about half a day to get back to the isolated settlement, and he spent the next four and a half days going between occupying the guard post and helping the Longs with the tato plants and mutfruit trees. Cait, as it turned out, was a chem addict looking to get clean. That was why Tommy had wanted her gone in the first place, and she and MacCready spent a good deal of time chatting about raiders and Gunners, and they both laughed about how not even Dogmeat would eat Jun Long’s terrible cooking. MacCready had almost completely forgotten about his encounter with the Railroad until Nate returned with the man with the sunglasses in tow.

To be honest, MacCready almost didn’t recognize him; this time, he was sporting a full head - wig, most likely - of hair, and was wearing a truly sad-looking leather jacket and black pants. Nate introduced him to the group as Deacon before taking him to talk to Preston in the house where all of the official Minuteman business took place. Deacon gave MacCready a wide grin as he passed, and the mercenary wasn’t entirely sure why he scowled.

“You know ‘im?” Cait asked. MacCready shook his head, and if the brawler gave him a questioning look, he was none the wiser.

~~~~~

They didn’t head back out right away. Apparently, Nate was trying to coordinate with Preston and Deacon if any of the settlements the Minutemen had already established would be willing to offer asylum, either temporary or permanent, to synths the Railroad helped. Preston was wary of this collaboration at first, but he agreed to having one as a test trial. When the three of them weren’t going over the details of the plan - Preston sure loved details - Deacon would often disappear for hours at a time and often came back looking very different from when he left. He’d try out different accents, and Cait and Sturges found him entertaining, but it all rubbed MacCready the wrong way. He couldn’t quite put his finger on why, but whatever the reason was, he now only left his rifle off when he slept.

Finally, Nate approached MacCready and told him that they would be heading back out soon, this time back to Cambridge to consult with the Brotherhood squad that was stationed there. They had completed a few jobs for the squad, and while it was MacCready’s professional opinion that all three of them were meatheads, they paid decently for the work he and Nate did.

As soon as Nate walked away, MacCready turned and almost ran right into Deacon.

“You still killing people for caps, MacCready?” the Railroad agent taunted with that knowing grin of his.

  
“I don’t know, are  _ you _ still pretending to be anyone but yourself?” The mercenary stomped away before Deacon had a chance to answer, but he could hear the soft laughter behind him. He told himself he wouldn’t miss being around that assh- that jerk, but that laughter seemed to haunt his dreams once they were back on the road.


	2. In Which MacCready's Curiosity Is Piqued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah I'm not keeping 100% to canon in terms of companion quests and stuff. Just to let y'all know that.
> 
> I was going to wait until Monday to publish this, but I've been reading it over and got excited to publish the next installment. Sue me.

The next few encounters MacCready had with Deacon were fairly mild, not many words spoken between the two of them. They spent a little over a week in sanctuary together while Nate went off with a synth detective, Nick Valentine, in search of Nate’s son, Shaun. So far, that was the most MacCready had learned about his employer, but after learning about Shaun, MacCready started contemplating his own life a bit more.

One night, while MacCready was on watch at the guard tower, Deacon climbed up the ladder behind him and promptly sat down next to the ex-Gunner without a word. They continued to sit like that for about twenty minutes before MacCready sighed and looked next to him.

“Did you want something?”

Deacon was silent for a long moment before he replied, “You know there’s a bounty on your head.”

MacCready stared at him, mouth agape, before he finally formulated a question. “What the hell- I mean, heck, are you talking about?”

“You used to run with the Gunners, right? I heard something about you the last time I was undercover with Nate. Winlock and Barnes don’t like that you keep taking out threats they could be paid to handle. They don’t know who Nate is, but from what I gather, they believe that if they can find you, they can get to him too.” The nonchalance in Deacon’s voice was most definitely bait to get MacCready to spill more about his history with the Gunners, and when that didn’t happen, he continued, “They don’t know where you’re hiding out these days, so you can easily take the fight to them before they figure it out.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t know when Nate’s getting back, and I’m not about to go track them down by myself,” MacCready muttered, looking around to see where he and Sturges could start building more turrets in case a group of Gunners decided it would be a good idea to ambush Sanctuary. His eyes, landed on Deacon, and even though the other man was still wearing his shades - from what MacCready could see, he never took them off - he could tell that there was more to Deacon’s suggestion than he had articulated. “What, you want to help me?” Silence. “You’ve been eating Jun’s cooking, haven’t you?”

“It’s not half as bad as some of the stuff Tinker Tom comes up with. He refuses to eat anything he doesn’t make himself, just in case it’s been bugged by the Institute,” Deacon replied evenly. MacCready snorted and shook his head, despite not knowing who this Tinker Tom was or whether this was a normal behavior for him. “I know where they’re hiding, I know they have an Assaultron, and I know the best way to get the jump on them. I’m offering my help and it won’t cost you a single cap.”

At this, MacCready narrowed his eyes. “Why? What’s in it for you?”

“I need to drink the blood of my enemies to maintain my corporeal form,” Deacon replied, and for a full five seconds, MacCready looked horrified. Then, upon realizing he wasn’t going to get a straight answer, he ended this conversation the way it began: with a sigh.

“Fine, if you really want to come… I’m going to need the help anyway.”

~~~~~

The two of them set out the next morning, Deacon in the wig and greaser jacket again and MacCready with a generous sack of ammo from Cait with no explanation as to how it came to be in her possession when she fought with her fists and occasionally a knife. True to his word, Deacon navigated them toward a well-hidden lift that looked like it hadn’t seen use in several months if not longer. It was far enough away from where Barnes and Winlock’s group had set up camp in the Mass Pike Interchange that no one heard the lift ascending or noticed two figures slowly make their way up to the outermost barriers.

They made quick work of the Gunners, Assaultron and all, and that was when MacCready realized this was his first time seeing Deacon in a firefight, He had to admit, the Railroad agent wasn’t half bad with a gun.

“Can I ask you something?” MacCready finally spoke up when they were holed up in one of the small shacks up on the crumbling interchange, sharing a box of Blamco Mac n’ Cheese.

“You can ask,” Deacon replied, and the mercenary figured that was as good a cue as any.

“I know you said you heard about a bounty, but why did you even bother to tell me about it?”

“It’s my job to know things. I knew you used to call yourself a Gunner, and I knew you left them. You must have had a good reason.” Deacon paused a moment to let his claim sink in. “Besides, I can’t risk you putting Fixer’s life in danger just because you and your former lovers had a falling out.”

“Who the he-heck is ‘Fixer’?”

“Nate.”

MacCready fell silent and leaned against one of the beams holding up the ramshackle roof. It was his job to know things? MacCready had suspected him of being some sort of spy, and he supposed this only confirmed it. He knew he should have been more uncomfortable with that information, but he wasn’t. Maybe it was nice knowing that someone had his back and not just because he was an investment, or maybe it was because Deacon had in a sort of runaround way admitted that he trusted MacCready to keep Nate safe like he’d been hired to do. As much as he hated to think about it, he really should just give Nate back the 200 caps and stay on as a volunteer rather than a hired gun. That way, if something like this happened again, he wouldn’t have to drag anyone else into the line of fire with him.

“-leave the Gunners?”

MacCready then realized he’d been staring at Deacon - rather, staring at his own reflection in those damn sunglasses - as he thought and missed the question entirely. “What was that?”

“Man, I know I’m a looker, but you could at least act like you’re paying attention,” Deacon teased, and MacCready could feel his ears going pink. That was definitely in indignation, not embarrassment, for the record. If anyone asked. Which they wouldn’t. “I said: ‘What made you decide to leave the Gunners?’”

“I guess… They were animals, really. They might be more organized than raiders, but they share the same morals: none whatsoever. I stayed with them because the caps were good, but after a while, I started to feel uneasy with what we were doing. I know it’s hard to believe, me having a conscience, but even though I still kill for caps, working on my own lets me choose who I want to work for.” MacCready shrugged. He expected Deacon to make some sort of snide joke, but instead, the other man just tilted his head.

“I don’t find it hard to believe that you have a conscience. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t still be planting tatos in Sanctuary.” Deacon took this moment to light up a cigarette before offering one to MacCready, who accepted with no small amount of confusion written on his face. “You’re not as bad as you think people think you are. I know people who have done far worse for far less.” MacCready wanted to ask him about these people he claimed to know, but it didn’t feel quite right.


	3. In Which A Certain Degree Of Trust Is Given

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More of MacCready's affinity quest featuring Deacon instead of the Sole Survivor because Sole picked Valentine instead. Special guest appearance by Preston Garvey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is on the longer side. Splitting it in half would have made the first part feel slow and filler-y, so I didn't want to do that. Whatever. As you can see, I still have no idea what I'm doing *shrug*

Nate and Valentine had already returned to Sanctuary by the time MacCready and Deacon got back the next day. No one, not even Cait, asked them where they had been, and MacCready wasn’t about to share that information with anyone except Nate - it seemed like the kind of thing he should know just in case there had been someone from Barnes and Winlock’s group who had managed to slip away or had not even been there at all. He got his chance later that day, when Preston and Valentine were sharing theories about the Institute and Deacon was lurking conspicuously next to them, and he briefly explained his history with the Gunners, as well as what transpired with Deacon’s assistance. He also gave Nate back the 200 caps, though at first Nate refused to take the money, and said that he was still going to stick around, but because he wanted to, not because he had to. The Minuteman General smiled, and for the first time, MacCready distinctly felt like he was no longer an outsider in this settlement where everyone seemed to find their niche.

Nate didn’t say much about what he and Valentine had found out about Shaun, though he hinted at some idea involving Dogmeat. MacCready offered to help, but Nate only clapped him on the back and promised that if the next step involved a well-placed bullet between the eyes, he’d let MacCready know. It didn’t slip the mercenary’s notice when, a couple of days later, the sole survivor of Vault 111 headed back toward Diamond City with the detective, the trusty canine companion, and a missile launcher strapped to his back.

MacCready didn’t have time to think about what could possibly be going down because not long after their departure, Preston Garvey recruited his help in checking up on Outpost Zimonja with Deacon. Apparently, that had been the settlement they were using as a test for harboring synths who had escaped from the Institute’s clutches with the help of the Railroad. It was a brief hike, but the entire time they walked, Preston asked Deacon how exactly the Railroad rescued these synths; a few times, MacCready had to bite the inside of his cheek when Deacon’s explanation tended toward the outrageous.

“One of our agents believes that the food and water out here in the Commonwealth is all bugged by the Institute so they can keep tabs on everyone. He also thinks that the birds are also synths meant to spy on people. He won’t share any of his data in case it falls into the wrong hands, but he’s found a way to reverse engineer the Institute’s methods, and he can see what they’re seeing, figure out who’s a synth based on the level of interest the Institute gives them, and then we swoop in and rescue them when there are no cameras on them. It’s not an easy task, and we don’t always get there in time, but it’s worth it.” Deacon pretended to get choked up talking about the efforts of the Railroad and that’s when MacCready lost his self-control and started to laugh. Preston was not amused.

When they reached the settlement, Preston immediately went off to talk to the settlers. He had no way of knowing which ones were the synths, and Deacon hadn’t been bothered to tell him. That was probably on purpose, MacCready realized as he put away his gun; if the Minuteman couldn’t tell which ones were human and which ones weren’t, he couldn’t object to having the synths there in the first place. While MacCready wasn’t all that keen on going out of his way to socialize, he was surprised to find Deacon leaning against a nearby tree, dragging on a cigarette. Somewhere, he’d found a Minuteman hat, so that had become part of his current disguise. MacCready found himself standing beside the spy, hands in pockets, and the two of them watched as the settlers, human and synth alike, filled Preston in on what was going well and what still needed some work.

“Why aren’t you talking to them too?” MacCready asked.

“I do better standing in someone else’s shadow,” was Deacon’s quick reply, as though he expected the sniper to ask that exact question. Either that or it was one he’d answered before and now had a response prepared. “Besides, me report to my boss on the success or failure of this experiment will come after I hear Garvey’s assessment. His lack of objections will mean we’re doing everything right on our end.”

“And that means you’ll find other settlements to do the same thing, right?”

“Exactly.” Deacon sighed and stamped out his cigarette butt in the dirt. “I anticipate having to play messenger for a while as Dez and Garvey get their shit sorted. Never thought I’d start taking up Drummer Boy’s job.”

“If you want someone watching your back…” MacCready left the offer unfinished, hoping Deacon would fill in the blanks for himself and not have to make him actually vocalize his willingness to spend more time with the Railroad agent.

“I don’t think Dez would appreciate me dragging a stranger into HQ,” Deacon said, and MacCready must have imagined the slight twinge of regret in his tone. “Thanks though.”

At that moment, one of the kids from the settlement ran up to the two men and insisted that he show them something. MacCready smiled and told the youngster to lead the way; he got about ten yard from the tree before he noticed Deacon wasn’t following them. When he looked back, the spy was smiling as though he knew something MacCready didn’t. MacCready let it slide this time.

~~~~~

As Deacon predicted, he started frequently running between Sanctuary and the Railroad’s headquarters. From time to time, he’d be out with Nate, carrying out some sort of job, and he would travel with Preston to different settlements for consideration. For the next month, MacCready only saw those stupid sunglasses maybe a handful of times. He wouldn’t admit that he missed having Deacon around, even the one time Cait asked if there was anything between them (he had gotten drunk, she stuck to a Nuka Cherry after her own soul-searching journey). Nate had found a Miss Nanny robot called Curie in the depths of Vault 85, and with a little help from the Railroad and Dr. Amari in Goodneighbor, Curie acquired the shell of a synth to host her consciousness. As a medical professional (in terms of her programming anyway), Curie had been the one in whom Cait confided about her drug habit, and the two women had set out across the Commonwealth in search of some sort of cure. MacCready suspected there was more to it than that, but unlike the redheaded brawler, he was too afraid to ask such a personal question - he wasn’t much taller than Cait, and between her physique and experience in the ring, there was no doubt in his mind that she could, and would, snap him like a twig if she had the inclination.

Besides Curie, Nate found another wanderer to join their mismatched group: a super mutant named Strong. Strong’s arrival put everyone on edge for a while - even Preston, loyal as he was to his General, protested the green monstrosity’s presence in the beginning - but during one of Deacon’s increasingly rare visits to Sanctuary, Strong mentioned his goal to find the ‘milk of human kindness,’ and the two of them had an interesting, albeit brief, conversation about Macbeth. It seemed as though Strong had no intention of harming any of Nate’s compatriots, and just about everyone stopped considering him a threat when he helped defend the neighborhood against a gang of raiders, though none of them were too pleased with his preference to consume the corpses instead of burning them. Sturges especially liked having someone able to carry around heavy equipment and supplies for building and repairs, and Strong didn’t complain about it too much.

There were other events too; Nate and Preston planned to retake the Castle, the old Minuteman headquarters before their group fell to pieces. MacCready offered to help, and he swore that before that fiasco, he had never seen so many Mirelurks in one place. There was even a Mirelurk Queen amongst the dirt and decades-old rubble - MacCready made a pun about the Queen in the Castle and promptly received a smack to the back of his head by Cait for his trouble. Neither one of them stuck around long after that. There were already plenty of Minutemen eager to put in the work to make the Castle a stronghold once again, and the two of them felt out of place among them. Preston rejoined them in Sanctuary a few days later, having put someone else in charge of that project.

However, in spite of these happenings, there were plenty of dull days too, and while MacCready should have taken the opportunity to relax in such a peaceful place, surrounded by friends, he felt more impatient than ever. He wasn’t desperate for caps anymore, which was a nice feeling, but there was one more thing he had to do before he could truly feel at ease. It wasn’t a task he could accomplish alone - he had tried that and failed multiple times - and while he could have asked Cait for help, knowing she would say yes, MacCready felt hesitant to bring it up. This was more personal and far more important than shutting up Winlock and Barnes for good, and if MacCready could trust anyone with his personal problems, it was Deacon. It made no sense since the man was a spy and a compulsive liar, but he’d been straight with MacCready about as much as he was willing to say in the first place, so he had no reason not to trust him with this.

That was why, one month and six days after their trip to Outpost Zimonja and Deacon’s oddly comforting smile, Robert Joseph MacCready found himself sitting in one of the broken pews of the Old North Church, wondering if he had made a mistake in journeying so far in the first place. He had been sitting there for hours with no sound other than his breathing and occasional foot-tapping. Until-

“You know, Carrington is about to have a heart attack because he thinks our location’s been blown, and as much as I’d love for that to happen, Dez needs him alive and well.”

MacCready nearly jumped out of his skin at the voice breaking the silence, but as soon as he realized who it was, he could barely fight the grin that threatened to overtake his usually annoyed visage. Deacon was in that dirty, old t-shirt and jeans like he’d been wearing the last time MacCready was here, sans wig, and looking far more entertained than concerned about the sniper’s presence in the building above his hideout.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t walk the Freedom Trail a second time just to hear about his whining. Did you know that super mutants really love taking up residence in Faneuil Hall? Because they do. Every fuc- freaking time we clear them out, they just keep going back,” MacCready grumbled, though he hoped his tone was lighthearted enough that Deacon didn’t think he was actually that irritated. “Took me longer this time too, being by myself and losing the trail a couple of times. Nate was much better at it.”

Deacon snorted and folded his arms over his chest. “Now why doesn’t that surprise me?” His amusement faded into confusion quickly enough, and he added, “Speaking of which, I know I’m a handsome devil and you’ve missed my face… but why are you here?” Time to get down to business then. MacCready took a deep breath and slid over on the pew so Deacon could sit next to him; the spy took the seat as offered and waited patiently for MacCready to get his thoughts together.

“You helped me get the Gunner group I used to run with off my back a while ago, and I told you why I left, but that wasn’t the whole story. The biggest reason I felt so uneasy with what was going on was because I had a family I needed to look after. I have a son, Duncan, and I promised myself when he was born that I’d get my act together, be someone he could be proud of, you know?” MacCready looked over at Deacon, peeking out from under the brim on his hat just enough to gauge his reaction; when Deacon nodded his understanding, MacCready continued, “Deacon is sick. I don’t know what’s wrong with him, not exactly. He has these blue boils everywhere, and he’s weak and I’m so scared that I’m going to lose him. I’ve tried everything I can think of, but nothing’s worked. Back before Nate found me in Goodneighbor, I’d heard from an acquaintance that a buddy of his had a similar illness. This acquaintance knew where to get the cure, but his buddy died before they could get their hands on it. It’s the Med-Tek Research facility. I got the codes to override the security lockdown procedures, but it’s overrun with ferals. I haven’t been able to take them out myself.” Once again, MacCready let the question hang in the air, but he didn’t have to wait for Deacon’s input for long.

“You do realize that you walked so far out of your way just to find me, and that Med-Tek is nowhere near here, right?” MacCready could see one corner of Deacon’s mouth twitching as though he was holding back a smile, and the mercenary huffed out a laugh.

“Yeah, I’m aware of that, thanks.”

“Well, it sounds like you really want me along for the ride then, huh? I guess Dez won’t miss me for a couple of days.”

MacCready’s head snapped up, his eyes wide, and said with a little too much hope in his voice, “Really? You don’t mind helping me out?” Deacon grinned and slung an arm around his shoulders.

“Anything for my friends. Let’s get going, we’re burning… well, not daylight anymore, I guess. Jeez, you really have been sitting here a while.” MacCready elbowed him in the ribs, and he clutched his side. “Owwww ow ow ow!! What was that for?”

“You being an assh- a jerk. We’d still have daylight to burn if you didn’t leave me sitting here by myself for so long.”

**Author's Note:**

> Fic title comes from the song Galaxies by Owl City.
> 
> So this has been sitting unfinished in my drafts folder for months. Maybe posting it little by little will give me the motivation to finish it! No promises on word flow control; tags will be added/edited as the story progresses (aka I don't know what the frickity fudge I'm doing up in here with this fic, so I'm in for as wild of a ride as you are, folks).
> 
> If you'd like to see me write for another pairing or challenge me with a prompt, please drop me a message.
> 
> Characters are not mine, they are owned by Bethesda, I would really like not to go to prison, blah blah blah.
> 
> Main Tumblr: betweenlovelines  
> Fallout Tumblr: the-folly-of-rin


End file.
